Council drops opposition to Caticlan project

Iloilo City — The municipal council of Malay in Aklan province has withdrawn its opposition to the controversial reclamation project at the jump-off point to Boracay Island earlier suspended by the Supreme Court.

In a resolution unanimously approved during the council’s regular session on Feb. 28, the officials gave a “conditional” endorsement of the project being implemented by the provincial government.

But the council said in its resolution that the endorsement would be revoked if the provincial government failed to comply with certain conditions.

The conditions include a 2.6-hectare limit of the coverage of the project in Barangay Caticlan and for the provincial government to conduct a comprehensive study on the project’s environmental impact and to implement possible mitigating measures.

The endorsement also required the provincial government to allocate office space for the municipal government within the building in the reclaimed area and to ensure that local transportation operators would not be displaced.

Malay Councilor Jonathan Cabrera, a member of the council’s committee on laws, said yesterday that the resolution was a “win-win” solution for all parties in the dispute.

Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez earlier asked the council’s support for the project.

But Dionisio Salme, president of the Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of business owners on the world-famous island, said they would not withdraw their petition and would wait for a final ruling on the case by the Supreme Court.

He said yesterday that the BFI officers would meet with Marquez over the weekend upon the invitation of the governor.

The Supreme Court on June 7, 2011 issued a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (Tempo) against the reclamation project based on a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by the BFI.

The BFI had asked the court to suspend the project pending the conduct of an environmental impact assessment and for the reclamation permit to be revoked.

It cited a study of University of the Philippines marine biologists showing that the project could affect the current and flow of the tides in the area and might cause further erosion of portions of Boracay’s shores.

The Malay municipal council had also passed several resolutions against the project claiming that they were not adequately consulted and because of the environmental concerns. The project is also being opposed by the town’s Association of Barangay Captains.

The provincial government, in its comment submitted to the Supreme Court, has claimed that it would be implementing the project only on a 2.64-hectare area in Caticlan even if the Philippine Reclamation Authority had approved a 40-hectare reclamation area including 36.82 hectares in Caticlan and 3.18 hectares in Boracay. /INQUIRER